Teahon-Freelance writer For all writing services and advice.

8Sep/090

A little change in freelance writing direction

The last few weeks has a seen a slight sea change for my freelance writing work.  Not only did I acquire a new client, but I also realised that working for less than $1 per 100 words is fruitless.  I also attracted a good job yesterday, which was easy to do and paid nicely for what was involved.  What made this nicer, was that the reason I landed the work was due to the work I had completed for the client previously.  It gave me a nice confidence boost to know that as a freelance writer, I am sort after.

This has led me to realise that I have a lot to offer the freelancing world, and so subsequently have created two new pages on my site.  The services page and the short story page.  The services page I am particularly pleased with.  Should you be wondering what I can do from a writing perspective, now's your chance to find out.

I would also like to develop this blog as I feel this site could become somewhat of an inspiration to other writers.  It is not easy to break into the freelance writing world at any level, and if you only ever land one job you have done well.  I will try and bring writing resources to you as I discover them.  Possibly, make a page dedictated to it.  Food for thought.

Anyway, take care, and stay well.

20Jul/090

Frustration and glory all in one night!

It has been a frustrating night, but one which I wish to share with you as fellow users of WordPress.  I write for Digitpedia.com every month, and frequently upload pictures as the blog demands it.  This is especially prevalent where 'How to' guides are concerned.  This week and tonight, I have struggled with formatting, as whenever I submitted the article for review, it went all over the place.  Tonight, after history repeated itself, I worked out that the reason for this unexplained eventuality, was because I was typing the article using a Firefox browser.  In Explorer I had no such problems.  So if your having similar difficulties and you are using Firefox, that could well be why.

On a lighter note, I am now listed as an author under a Google news.  Wahoo.  If you type 'author:"Richard Teahon" ' while in Google news,it brings up the articles I have written for Digitpedia.com.  This is fantastically groovy.  I'm a goddamn news author how about that!  You can also create email alerts and RSS feed for the articles I write for Digitpedia.  Wow!

After tonight, I better sit down.

9Jul/092

Freelance writing tips for a better nights work.

It has been an interesting week for me, both in and out of the writing world.   I have discovered that a good nights sleep produces a better night writing, and that is a very valuable lesson I feel.  It is hard to write if you are fighting your own tiredness.  Also, another valuable freelance tip is to have a schedule, and stick to it.   So my schedule tonight looks like this

My blog

WordPress articles x 4

Edit terms and conditions for Link-optimise

Write out the above on your note pad-all writers should have one of these, and cross them off or tick them when you do them.  You'll get an immense feeling of satisfaction if you do.

So now that number one is done, time to move onto number 2.  Bye for now.

9Jun/094

Freelance writing decisions

Hi there! 

Well it is looking a little dicey whether or not I can continue writing for a client.  I do not like to reject the work, but as the pay is poor, and will impact upon better paying projects.  Also, I cannot find anyone to do the work for me, so it is not looking good.  The impact my reputation will receive because of this I cannot determine, but it will almost certainly not be favourable.

My hope for this work was a new writer who approached me via facebook, and offered their services.  Sadly, as she is based in Pakistan, I cannot pay her unless my bank allows me to do a bank transfer.  This I feel will not be likely or easy.

So, my friends, unless someone comes out of the woodwork and accepts the work, I will have to reject it.  Not something I wish to do.

16May/090

SEO Example: The Importance of SEO article writing

This is another blog I wrote for Dreamtemplate.com.  The keyword phrase is "The importance of SEO article writing".

 

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is an important element in any web design.   The most popular search engines are geared towards searching for text, and though it is said that a picture conveys a thougsand words, a website’s text will hold the audience to a site, accommodate their needs, and if it is the aim, sell them something.

 

The idea behind SEO writing is to include the same phrase or word a few times in the text, so that it is hi-lighted on a search engine search, and therefore generates traffic for the site.  The searchable phrase or word, is known as the keyword.  The trick for any SEO writer, is to ensure the text retains interest, and relevance, and the balance of the writing, is not affected.

 

Here is a good example of bad SEO writing.  The keyword is “SEO writing”:

 

The importance of SEO writing is to ensure, that the keyword is repeated a few times throughout the text, which will ensure that if anyone searches for the keyword, in this case SEO writing, will find SEO writing, when searching a search engine for the keyword SEO writing. 

 

As you can see the imbalance is, well, not the best, and reads poorly.  However, it does work well for this article that you are reading now, as it shows that the keyword “SEO writing”, which is what we were aiming for.

 

A better example would be:

 

The importance of SEO writing cannot be overstated.  It is a good reliable way to pull your intended audience to your site and thus, increase the traffic generated by it.  SEO writing is considerably cheaper than paying Google for advertising space, and good SEO writing has a proven record to generate sales.

 

As you can see, the second piece has far better balance, and the keyword, “SEO writing”, has still been repeated three times.   This will push a website up the rankings on a search engine, which is the idea.

 

Web graphics are important, the article’s aim here is not to undermine them, but to show that the text will bring the traffic to a site.  There are sites where the number of hits are not so important, and so there is no need for SEO writing to be included.  Or it a specialist interest site, and so will only cater for a likeminded audience.

 

However, it is now considered essential that the text of a commercial website, is of the highest quality, and as stated earlier, good SEO writing, will drive a site up the rankings in a search engine.  Especially, the daddy of all search engines, Google.  A website could look amazing, with brilliant animations and graphics, but it wont hold an audiences attention if the website does not convey anything to do them.  The best way to do this, is through the quality of the copy.

SEO writing also saves money on paying Google, and other search engine providers, to be at the top of the rankings.  It is good business sense, to use this technique to generate traffic.

 

So when you are designing a website, simply ask yourself what you wish to convey to the site’s intended audience, and then think about what someone would search for, when looking for your site.  Simply tailor the text to include that keyword, around three times in the body of the text.  Ideally, this will appear at the start, the middle, and the end.  For an article such as this one, it should not prove too difficult.  If the text is for navigation links, try and include the same text and link a few times on the page.  Good SEO writing will make all the difference to your site.

 

www.dreamtemplate.com/blog

16May/095

SEO Example: Use keywords for SEO success.

This writing example, has been taken from a blog I write for Dreamtemplate.com.  The keywords used here were "SEO", and "Use keywords for SEO success." 

 

Search engine optimisation is a topic we have covered a few times over the last few weeks, and have dealt with it from a number of angles.  A newer perspective however, is called for, and this is to use keywords for SEO success.

 

The need for good, well thought out SEO writing is more prevalent then ever before.  Web pages need to be able to pull in the traffic, and to do that, web pages have to have text that pulls the search engine spiders towards it.

 

As we have mentioned before, it is not solely about repeating keywords, but making the article meaningful, and interesting enough to retain the reader.   So just listing keywords will not cut it to bring the traffic your way, and keep it there. 

 

Keywords though cannot be underestimated for SEO success.  We have looked at in detail the idea of using keywords as links, and trying to second guess the average user by choosing links that they will search for.  Now we must take things a step further, by using the right keywords in the body of the text, to bring the traffic your way.

 

The best way to approach an SEO article is to try and think about it in two ways.  One, what are you trying to say, what messages are you trying to convey to the reader, and two, what keywords do you think the reader will use to search for information.

 

To try and illustrate this, we will use a website that sells sporting memorabilia:  www.memorablesportingmoments.com, wants to draw attention to its range of European Soccer Trading Cards, as the owner feels that these have a good market, especially in Europe!  Ronaldino, is a player he feels will sell particularly well.

 

Ok, we know what we want to pull though on a search engine, so what we need to decide, is what will a user search for when looking for a card.  Here are a few suggestions.

 

Trading card

 

European soccer trading card.

 

European soccer.

 

Ronaldino soccer trading card.

 

Ronaldino.

 

Soccer trading card.

 

As we can see, we have five fairly good guesses as to how your average user will search for trading cards.  So, looking at the above, we can amalgamate ‘Trading card’, with three of our other choices, as this carries the same phrase.  So a search engine spider should find this if called to action.

 

The same can be said of ‘European soccer’, and ‘Ronaldino’.  Therefore, we now have two phrases to concentrate on. 

 

Ronaldino soccer trading card.

 

European soccer trading card.

 

So if we gear our article around these two phrases, repeating them three times each in the body of the text including the first, and last paragraphs.  We are in business.

 

As mentioned in our previous articles, we can also include these as a link, making them far more appealing to search engine spiders.

 

Then, providing we have an angle that is both interesting, and meaningful, we should start getting traffic coming our way. 

 

A good way to utilise any article that you write for your website, is to put it on the websites blog.  Remember the more people read it, the more memorable your site will become, and therefore, generate traffic.

 

Search engine optimisation has been identified as a key factor in a websites success and failure.  By using our tips and tricks, you should start to see the results fairly quickly in your bid to pull more traffic to your site, and your site’s ability to keep them there.  You cannot afford not to use it.  Just remember the trick is to use keywords for SEO success.

www.dreamtemplate.com/blog

8May/090

Completing a job

It's always a good feeling to complete a job, in this case a blogging job for Dreamtemplate.com.  It is always with satisfaction of a job well done,  after the last full stop has been added, and I feel, well, good about myself. 

That is something that I lack from my day job, as a Stores Administrator.   I'm not quite sure where I am going with this, I think I am just pleased that I have finished the work, which took two weeks I might add, and I am hoping that I will land some more from the same source too.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

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